Testimonies for the Church Volume 1 - A New You Ministry

They love the cause just as much as their works show. They love the world more andthe cause of God less; the attraction to earth grows stronger and the attraction to heavenweaker. Their heart is with their treasure. By their example they say to those aroundthem that they are intending to stay here, that this world is their home. Said the angel:“Thou art thy brother’s keeper.”Many have indulged in needless expense, merely to gratify the feelings, the taste,and the eye, when the cause needed the very means thus used, and when some of theservants of God were poorly clothed and were crippled in their labor for lack of means.Said the angel: “Their time to do will soon be past. Their works show that self is theiridol, and to it they sacrifice.” Self must first be gratified; their feeling is: “Am I mybrother’s keeper?” Warning after warning many have received, but heeded not. Self isthe main object, and to it everything must bow.I saw that the church has nearly lost the spirit of self-denial and sacrifice; theymake self and self-interest first, and then they do for the cause what they think they canas well as not. Such a sacrifice, I saw, is lame, and not accepted of God. All shouldbe interested to do their utmost to advance the cause. I saw that those who have noproperty, but have strength of body, are accountable to God for their strength. Theyshould be diligent in business and fervent in spirit; they should not leave those thathave possessions to do all the sacrificing. I saw that they can sacrifice, and that it istheir duty to do so, as well as those who have property. But often those that have nopossessions do not realize that they can deny themselves in many ways, can lay outless upon their bodies, and to gratify their tastes and appetites, and find much to sparefor the cause, and thus lay up a treasure in heaven. I saw that there is loveliness andbeauty in the truth; but take away the power of God, and it is powerless.115